I was talking recently with a friend and we were both lamenting the “strange and stranger” quality of our culture today; we had both seen the video at the bottom of this post. In it, the interviewer (who is a 5’9” white man), through a series of questions, gets a number of college students to accept that he is actually a 6’5” Chinese woman, or, alternately, a seven-year-old boy. They consider the way he “identifies” himself to be more significant than the obvious reality before them.

That such an appeal can convince a college student (or anyone for that matter) demonstrates that we have collectively taken leave of our senses. My friend said that the image that came to his mind was of the Mad Hatter’s tea party in Alice in Wonderland. When something as obvious as a person’s sex is unclear, when large numbers of people are willing to go along with calling a well-known man and former Olympic decathlete a woman, we have definitely fallen down a rabbit hole into a strange and nightmarishly bizarre world marked by absurdity after absurdity.

Alice in Wonderland may capture it, but to me it is more reminiscent of the children’s story The Emperor’s New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen. The tale contains many eerie parallels with our current culture. While most are familiar with the tale, I will provide a brief synopsis:

The story begins with an Emperor who is described as being excessively fond of new clothes. Knowing his weakness and seeking to profit by it, two swindlers offer to weave him a set of glorious set of clothes with the wonderful property of being invisible to anyone who is unfit for the office he holds or who is extraordinarily simple. The Emperor is intrigued by the idea of being able to find out who within his realm is unfit for his office as well to be able to distinguish between the wise and the foolish. So he pays the swindlers a large sum of money and supplies them with copious quantities of expensive fabrics (which they stash in their bags) so that they can begin work immediately.

The Emperor periodically sends members of his staff to observe their progress. The rogues point to the empty looms and pretend to point out the magnificence of the non-existent material. But none of them will admit to seeing nothing and each returns to the Emperor with a glowing report of the splendid cloth. Finally, the Emperor himself pays a visit to the weavers (and also, obviously, sees nothing at all). Embarrassed by his inability to see the cloth, he (like the others) pretends to be amazed by its beauty.

Finally, the day arrives for the Emperor to wear these glorious clothes in a procession through the kingdom. The “clothes” are brought out by the swindlers, who explain that they are “as light as a spider’s web. One would almost think he had nothing on, but that’s what makes them so fine.” The Emperor undresses and the rogues pretend to dress him, one garment after another. This is all done to the applause and fawning commentary of both the Emperor and his entourage, all of whom see nothing at all!

Then the procession begins. The nearly naked Emperor parades through the streets under his high canopy, accompanied by noblemen carrying the ends of his magnificent, invisible train. The townsfolk, not wanting to be considered simpletons, applaud the magnificent clothes and comment aloud on the Emperor’s “finery.”

But then a young child, not yet fearful of the opinions of others, states the obvious: “But the emperor has nothing at all on!”

As the news of the child’s cry passes through the crowd, they become emboldened and begin to repeat, “He has nothing at all on!”

On hearing this, the Emperor realizes that the people are right. However, he decides that the procession must go on. And so he continues walking along in his underwear, with his staff taking greater care than ever in maintaining the façade, holding up the train that doesn’t exist.

And thus we have a parable for our times. Like the Emperor in the tale, many are willing to imagine things in order to preserve their vanity. And out of fear of being considered unenlightened, intolerant, etc., they play along with what is obviously absurd: that a man can really be a woman, or that human beings come in dozens of genders rather than two, or that a man having sexual relations with another man is not disordered, or that a child in the womb is something other than a human person, or that the head of the largest abortion provider in the U.S. should be honored at a Catholic university with a standing ovation, etc. Yes, many play along with the absurd.

And those who raise objections or state that such views are not in conformity with basic reality, those who say (in effect) that “the emperor has no clothes” are told to be quiet, to not talk about the obvious absurdity before everyone’s eyes. Such people are labeled unenlightened and intolerant because they cannot see the “beauty” that the enlightened and tolerant can.

In the story above, a mere child could easily see the absurdity before him and simply spoke to what was obvious; children are often that way. They have less to lose. They have not yet become jaded by flattery and the thousand little (and big) lies we adults like to tell ourselves and others. Little children have not yet gotten the memo that appearing right is more important than being right. They are still shocked by lies and inconsistency; they often speak the truth in impolite, unrefined, and even blunt ways.

But as innocence dies out and circumspection dawns, too many of us begin to indulge deception. We go along to get along, “drinking the Kool-Aid” of a world gone increasingly mad. Even as the absurdity multiplies and we are asked to deny the plainly obvious, the fear among many of being considered unenlightened seems to be growing by leaps and bounds.

Here’s to the little child in us that is still shocked by lies, inconsistencies, and absurdity. Here’s to that innocent child who can still cry out, “But the emperor has nothing at all on!”

For having known God, they glorified Him not and neither were they thankful; but they became vain in their thinking and their senseless minds were darkened (Rom 1:21).

Here is the video that sparked this post. Absurdity seems to know no limits.

Headline: Transgender woman sues local Health Center
(Rooters) A transgender woman has filed a discrimination lawsuit against Springfield Women’s Health Center for refusing to provide a gynecological exam.
“Just because they claim I’m still a “biological” “male,” she told reporters,” that’s no excuse for their hateful intolerance.”
Upon being denied the examination, “I felt hurt, excluded, and marginalized.”
“I’ve always been a woman,” she stated. “My birth certificate now says so.”
When questioned by reporters how she could justify her request for a gynecological exam, since she is still physically a male, Geraldine replied “LGBT.”
When asked to elaborate, she replied more loudly “LGBT, you bigots.”
On hearing about the lawsuit, Justice Department spokesperson Irene Dzhugashvili commented, “We will not condone such acts of blatant discrimination, even in the name of so-called “medical science.” The Health Center is now at risk of losing hundreds of dollars of federal funding.
In another reaction to news of the lawsuit, local musician/comedian/dancer Henrietta Sprawl has cancelled her free performance at a nearby park.

(Rooters) A transgender woman has filed a discrimination lawsuit against Springfield Women’s Health Center for refusing to provide a gynecological exam.
“Just because they claim I’m still a “biological” “male,” she told reporters,” that’s no excuse for their hateful intolerance.”
Upon being denied the examination, “I felt hurt, excluded, and marginalized.”
“I’ve always been a woman,” she stated. “My birth certificate now says so.”
When questioned by reporters how she could justify her request for a gynecological exam, since she is still physically a male, Geraldine replied “LGBT.”
When asked to elaborate, she replied more loudly “LGBT, you bigots.”
On hearing about the lawsuit, Justice Department spokesperson Irene Dzhugashvili commented, “We will not condone such acts of blatant discrimination, even in the name of so-called “medical science.” The Health Center is now at risk of losing hundreds of dollars of federal funding.
In another reaction to news of the lawsuit, local musician/comedian/dancer Henrietta Sprawl has cancelled her free performance at a nearby park.

Posted by Howard on Wednesday, May, 4, 2016 8:15 PM (EST):

I can’t bring myself to watch the video. At the same time, a sane student, when confronted with someone who insists he is a fireplug, would bring his dog to pee on the “fireplug”. I’m not sure what the alternative is. Walk away shaking your head? Try to LITERALLY beat some sense into the madman? The first is a non-response that would be cut from any video, and second is legally and morally dubious, to say the least.

Posted by CY on Wednesday, May, 4, 2016 10:05 AM (EST):

This insanity is spreading like plague on steroids. This week I brought one of my teens to a talk organised by Catholic young adults. In Australia, there is a government-funded so-called Safe Schools program, ostensibly for anti-bullying. Sounds good. Except it is a trojan horse, totally infiltrated by the LGBTI lobby, to push the gay agenda. One of the speakers was from the JPII Institute for Family, and we got an overview / evolution of this “gender ideology” and queer theory, etc, etc. There are now 51+ “genders”. One of the mums there broke out sobbing as she related how her daughter came home totally traumatised and confused, as under this program she was told to role-play being a lesbian. The mum is in the process of pulling her out of that school, and into a Catholic one.
The Catholic bishops have banned this program from Catholic schools. Unfortunately the State govt is pushing legislation to make it compulsory. So the battles are not over. Weird. Freakish. Insane. Evil. There will be Final Judgement, but we have to protect our children right now. Pray hard in the spiritual battle; fight in the political battle.

Posted by Lorraine on Tuesday, May, 3, 2016 5:36 PM (EST):

I am curious as to how anything is graded at this university? Surely a math teacher would say to the student: we can verify that he is not 6 ft 5 in. Please go get me a ruler. Or a biology teacher would say: we can verify that he is male and not female. Please get a DNA sample. Or an anthropology teacher would ask: we can check his genealogy. Go ask them for details of his ancestors.

Are there no right answers? Why go to college at all? How would a teacher ever grade a paper - I would suspect the grade would be one long semester of debate with the student. My 3 year old grandson said to me today as he was pointing to a toy airplane “Is this a helicopter, Nana?”. I said” no, it’s an airplane”. He said, “But I WANT it to be a helicopter!”. I answered, “Just because you want it to be a helicopter doesn’t make it one.” I am starting early since this seems too difficult to grasp at the college level.

Posted by mrscracker on Monday, May, 2, 2016 6:27 PM (EST):

GW,
thanks for your comments.
I guess I am wondering how people’s denials/ perceptions of themselves should be affirmed by the culture. If I identify differently than my mirror, scale or birth certificate indicates, who decides I’m right or wrong? Is age or weight any less important to my identify than gender?
I recently read about an immigrant who was caught in a highschool basketball team posing as someone 3 years younger. Perhaps he should have claimed the right to identify that way. Who knows?
I think beyond the silliness, there’s a price to pay down the road. We’ve seen bad science in the past endorse foolishness like eugenics, phrenology, etc. And only bad stuff followed when reason was suspended.

Posted by GW on Monday, May, 2, 2016 1:11 PM (EST):

For Michael, aja, mrscracker, and anyone else I might have missed:
With all due respect, I don’t know how to address all of your concerns or objections at once. Your responses go in different directions and make some assumptions that I can’t fathom. But you’re welcome to your opinions.

Michael points out that I’m the intolerant one, and that “the gay community doesn’t seek to live their lives in peace, they seek to force others to agree with and accept their lifestyle. It’s a militant organization.”

On one hand, it’s hard to imagine that someone who actually knows any LGBT people would make that comment, but then he goes on to post that opinion as though it were factual.

I object to what I consider to be ridiculing those with whom we disagree, and Michael decides that he knows what’s in my heart and soul. According to Michael, I think that conservatives are “bigots and closed minded.” I “trot around [my] little world on [my] high horse,” and that I think I’m “the most enlightened among a crowd of the unwashed.”

Mrscracker asks a good question. I would guess that anorexia is treated differently (if it is treated differently) by mental health professionals because they no longer subscribe to the notion that gays and lesbians are not mentally ill. (Do I agree with that? I don’t know…but I’m hard-pressed to see the mental illness in my gay brother).

Aja seems to think that anyone “on any particular day might ‘feel’ transgendered, bisexual, gay, or lesbian” and that they “demand” that other people conform their lives to LGBT standards. Again, it’s hard to believe that anyone who knows any number of LGBT people would make that statement. Aja also seems to believe, like Michael, that LGBT people are one large group with a militant agenda which includes suppression of the right to free speech. Aja also thinks that “the LGBT community and any individuals within it should have equal civil rights not preferential rights with the rest of society.”

And on that point I agree completely with Aja.

I comment on pages like this to appeal to people like Father Pope to use their large public voices in constructive ways. It’s distressing to think that ostensibly faithful Catholics would believe that there is a monolithic LGBT bloc dedicated to demanding special rights. If/when their political leaders demand “special treatment,” one would hope that Catholic leaders react by asking the faithful to be polite, nothing more.

It’s also distressing to realize that so many in the media seek out the worst examples of a particular group, and then seek to define the entire group by the one outlier. Are there flaming, outlandish perverts among the gay community? Of course there are, just as there are incorrigible perverts among the rest of us as well. One would hope that our Catholic leaders emphasize that in our dealings with LGBT people, we first do no harm, and make damn sure that the teenager who is struggling with their self-image or their sexual orientation knows that they will receive understanding and compassion, if not approval, from their Church.

No one can be more effective in this message than conservative Catholic leaders, since so many of the faithful see what’s happening in today’s world and, ignore the liberal clergy, and turn to their conservative Father and say, “Well, Father? Tell us what’s wrong with this!”

A hundred years ago when I was young, my best friend’s brother lost the love of his life to AIDS. He was the only one of his very large, Catholic family to attend the funeral. When he was asked very pointed questions by others in his family: “What? You CAN’T approve of this, do you?” He answered simply and without thinking:

“It never even occurred to me. My brother needs me.”

Posted by mrscracker on Monday, May, 2, 2016 10:49 AM (EST):

Rob,
Good comments.

Posted by Michael on Monday, May, 2, 2016 8:41 AM (EST):

GW, it is you who are delusional. You speak of charity but it’s your version of it. What you advocate is not charity but blindness.

“You dislike the efforts of the LGBT community to live their lives…” a statement like that reveals that you are the intolerant one. The gay community doesn’t seek to live their lives in peace, they seek to force others to agree with and accept their lifestyle. It’s a militant organization that is using their political power to intimidate and subjugate the majority.

You harp on conservative Catholics and belittle their opinions because you think they’re bigots and closed minded. You trot around your little world on your high horse thinking your the most enlightened among a crowd of the unwashed.

Sorry, but you forgot to dress yourself this morning. Go back to bed.

Posted by Rob on Monday, May, 2, 2016 7:27 AM (EST):

I think the root problem is that we have raised a generation of people to be so conflict-averse that they will sacrifice just about any other good to avoid it. The “good for you response” is pretty normal for most people in most social settings; we all practice some form of it on a regular basis. The alarming part is the refusal to draw a line on how far such a social-lubricant should go. It’s SO important not to disagree that logic must go out the window and we end up with inanities like in the video.

I’m also curious to know how representative these reactions were and how many got dropped on the cutting room floor.

Posted by mrscracker on Monday, May, 2, 2016 6:02 AM (EST):

GW,
Jordan actually brings up an important point. Why do we manage other afflictions like anorexia differently?
College students were silly in other eras about other issues it’s true. It’s also true that it generally takes another generation or two to see the deepness of that silliness and for the pendulum to swing back.

Posted by aja on Monday, May, 2, 2016 12:29 AM (EST):

@GW “You dislike the efforts of LGBT people to be left alone to live their lives, and I understand that; however, you also feel that the best course of action is to ridicule them and distort the positions of their political leaders.”

Uh, one problem, among others that the video seems to be addressing, is the demand by LGBT people (or by anyone who on any particular day might “feel” transgendered, bisexual, gay or lesbian) that other people conform their lives to LGBT standards, not simply leave them alone (which, by the way I believe is what most people want to do with LGBTs). The LGBTs have been pursuing a militant agenda to force others to affirm their lifestyles and beliefs about themselves by behaviors prescribed by LGBTs, regardless of what the others may know or believe to the contrary. They even want it to trump other 1st amendment rights of individuals. I think that is where the clash is really coming from and it seems to me LGBTs are forcing it. I think the LGBT community and any individuals within it should have equal civil rights not preferential rights with the rest of society. They shouldn’t get to make special rules that everyone else must bow to on pain of legal sanction.

Posted by Bonnie Baker on Sunday, May, 1, 2016 4:45 PM (EST):

I heard a lot of them say “I feel - I feel” We need to forget about feeling and deal with reality.

Posted by nady on Sunday, May, 1, 2016 4:02 PM (EST):

Those students are just wasting their parent’s money and their time.

Posted by GW on Sunday, May, 1, 2016 3:07 PM (EST):

Jordan, you’re welcome to your opinion. I don’t know where you went to school, but I remember my college experience - if one were to ask inane questions such as those posed on the video, the students would have answered as these did - usually without giving offense, usually with compassion, and sometimes without thinking.

This is the way the conservative movement dies. 50 years ago, conservative writers, whether they were religious or political, advocated for things. Now it seems like the method of operations at NCR is not to advocate but to ridicule those with whom we disagree. One cannot establish the honor or validity of one’s own position with insults or by attacking the other person.

The signs of the times? From what I see, the times include people wanting to be left alone to deal with their own issues, especially gender and sexuality-based issues. For us to stand on the sidelines and jeer at them and make videos that encourage misconceptions and insinuate [what?] about them is not helpful.

We do not have to agree or stop being Catholics. We need to deal with others in Charity while we preach. It’s not a matter of them not understanding what we are talking about; they’ve already tuned us out. When was the last time you listened sincerely to and evangelical pastor preach against Catholicism?

I’d be interested in learning exactly how this essay and the video “grasp the underlying problem and try to help them perceive it.”

This essay is worse than an attack because holidng people up to verbal ridicule is worse than verbally attacking them. Is it Charity to force a left-handed child to live their lives as a right-handed person? In a larger sense, is it charitable to first ridicule those who deal with sex and gender issues and then to “preach” to them? Is that even rational?

I have not advocated for approval of homosexual or any other lifestyle. You are assuming something incorrectly, but that is often typical for the conservative Catholics with whom I correspond on web sites like this one. I advocate for compassion and for learning first as we minister to these people.

Please know that I understand where you are coming from, though. You read a few lines that do not follow the conservative line of thought, and you immediately take the wrong action. You cannot see properly; your vision is distorted.

You dislike the efforts of LGBT people to be left alone to live their lives, and I understand that; however, you also feel that the best course of action is to ridicule them and distort the positions of their political leaders. This is the particular distortion of our age. Charity untwists distortions and restores health to those who are sick. Charity does not hold others up to ridicule and encourage dark misconceptions about them. All lies come from the enemy. Only the Truth can set us free.

Posted by Therese on Sunday, May, 1, 2016 1:06 PM (EST):

GW, I couldn’t disagree with you more. Your response that these same questions would have elicited the same responses even 30 years ago, let alone 100 years ago is (take your pick): delusional, fanciful, wishful thinking, an attempt to repeat a lie often enough in the hopes that it will eventually be taken as fact.

It is definitely time for all rational people to stand up to this destructive absurdity and take back our society. To paraphrase a recent blogger, you haven’t lost your mind - the politically correct left has taken it hostage!!

We will all have to answer to God on our personal judgment day for how we let these lies go unchallenged and caused the loss of our children’s souls.

Posted by PB on Sunday, May, 1, 2016 11:47 AM (EST):

I’m with the good Monsignor. Progressives take over when materialism has lulled a society into submission (“what’s it hurting me? who cares as long as it’s not “hurting anyone…”) using first emotion, then fear tactics, and finally devious political maneuvers to gain control over people’s minds. Interestingly, they mock religion for being about mind control over the simple. Yeah, right. Once they win a fake “consensus,” dissent from their “tolerant” orthodoxy become heresy and punishable, the Bill of Rights be damned. It’s not based on objective truth, but the exact opposite, a set of lies, some of which are laughable (like the video) but other things cause real harm (planned parenthood butchering). Their high holy sacrament is the self and abortion is their sacrifice to the god of self. Christianity and Christ’s Church is based in natural law and objective truth: it’s always offered hope through love which speaks the truth and self-sacrifice by putting the other person first. Pray for these people as they persecute and assail the truth. Love the sinner, hate the sin.

Posted by Douglas on Sunday, May, 1, 2016 11:30 AM (EST):

G.K. Chesterton reminds us that people believe lies because they want to. That and
“When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing, they then become capable of believing in anything.”

Posted by Jordan Miller on Sunday, May, 1, 2016 7:14 AM (EST):

@ GW - That’s absurd. If asked these questions of college students even 20 years ago, you would get a very different range of answers. Much less 50 or 100 years ago. To deny the reality of one’s present situation helps no one. Your complaint that Msgr. should “appeal to people in the name of Charity” rather than declare that “the sky is falling” is naive at best. No one is saying that the sky is falling; Christ is the Lord, and no changes in culture should take away our hope and trust in him. But to appeal to people in the name of charity requires reading the signs of the times, because otherwise our words of love will fall on ears that can hear but may as well be deaf because they cannot understand what we are talking about.

How does one reach out in charity to someone (like the college students in the video) who honestly and sincerely believes that we can define the reality of our existence by a sheer act of will, unless you first grasp the underlying problem and try to help them perceive it?

This article is not an attack on anyone: it is not charity to allow someone to continue living in a lie that objectively harms them. Is it charity to allow someone suffering from anorexia to believe that she is looking more and more “beautiful” as she starves herself, when in reality she is wasting away and harming her body? She looks in the mirror, but she cannot see properly: her vision is distorted.

So, too, the vision of our present time is distorted (not that there was ever a ‘golden age’ where everyone saw clearly, but this is the particular distortion of our age). Charity untwists distortions, and restores health to those who are sick. Charity does not encourage people to live in a lie; all lies come from the enemy. Only the Truth can set us free.

Posted by ricardo on Saturday, Apr, 30, 2016 8:29 PM (EST):

that’s what happens when they remove the Natural Law from society

Posted by Dan in Indiana on Saturday, Apr, 30, 2016 5:58 AM (EST):

The further one is from the TRUTH, the more susceptible one is to believing a lie.

Posted by GW on Saturday, Apr, 30, 2016 4:11 AM (EST):

Father, if you asked similar questions to college students a hundred years ago when I attended, you’d get a similar set of answers - some clueless, some noncommittal, some insightful. This video doesn’t prove a single thing other than the stock in trade for NCR’s writers is apparently that the sky is falling.

Thank you, Msgr. Charles Pope, for confirming that those of us who are baffled by these bizarre absurdities of modern culture are not alone; one wonders what’s next, and where does it all end.

Sadly, the absurdities are not limited to the secular world. Christians who were expecting to find refuge in our shepherds are often disappointed.

In that bizarre period of late 18th Century France, when the revolutionaries seized churches, including the Cathedral of Notre Dame, and desecrated it by turning it into a temple of man, faithful Catholics were no doubt horrified by what the godless anti-Catholic, bloodthirsty revolutionaries had done to their sacred spaces, let alone to their priests and religious, many of whom where killed.

Compare that to today, where we have the ostensibly Catholic leaders, in most cases priests, of once renowned Catholic universities who are leading the desecration of these institutions dedicated to Our Lord and Savior, by bestowing honors on the most notorious promoters of the culture of death - Obama, Biden and company; by promoting the most vile perversion of sexuality; by mocking the teachings of Holy Mother Church and our Lord and Savior. And what do our shepherds do in response to this desecration? Some utter polite disagreement; some remain quiet.

I can understand how our gutter culture, which mocks virtue and celebrates vice, could come to this state. I cannot understand how our shepherds could remain so quiet when priests and nuns under their control are leading souls right to Hell.

Posted by Nancy D. on Friday, Apr, 29, 2016 6:12 PM (EST):

Well done. The beginning of wisdom is knowing which questions to ask.

Posted by charles on Friday, Apr, 29, 2016 4:48 PM (EST):

They are like the Eloi in the movie The Time Machine {1960}. Passive in the extreme. They will not fight and will accept most anything as long as they are fed, clothed, and sheltered. Those born from about the year 2000 onward are The Homeland Generation and thankfully, they are not like these people.

Posted by Marthe Lépine on Friday, Apr, 29, 2016 4:24 PM (EST):

There used to be a time when I was a child that people who claimed to be someone else would mostly be found in institutions for the mentally ill, and we would make jokes about a man who claimed to be Napoleon, for example…

Posted by Nancy D. on Friday, Apr, 29, 2016 2:59 PM (EST):

In the case of The Emperor’s New Clothes, it was pride that kept those who saw the Emperor had no clothes, from telling him the truth; in the case of this video, it is apathy for the physical, psychological, emotional, and spiritual well being of others, that keeps them from telling the truth.

The sad consequence of a decades long admonishment to ‘think outside the box’ devoid of any logic or reason.

Posted by mrscracker on Friday, Apr, 29, 2016 1:09 PM (EST):

And just to mention, I saw an article recently about an older gentleman in Canada who identifies now as a six year old little girl:

“...52-year-old Paul Wolscht, a Canadian mechanic with a wife and seven children, who has transitioned into Stefonknee Wolscht, a six-year-old girl in frilly dresses who lives with adoptive parents and spends her time playing with their grandchildren.
Stefonknee (pronounced Stephanie) doesn’t look like a six-year-old girl, even in the frilly dress. She is heavy-set, about six-feet tall and has a deep voice. But she likes colouring in and playing with dolls with other children.”
http://www.mercatornet.com/conjugality/view/the-mechanic-who-transitioned-to-a-6-year-old-girl/17394

Posted by mrscracker on Friday, Apr, 29, 2016 12:59 PM (EST):

Hans Christian Andersen had great insight.
Thank you for this article.

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Msgr. Charles Pope is currently a dean and pastor in the Archdiocese of Washington, DC, where he has served on the Priest Council, the College of Consultors, and the Priest Personnel Board. Along with publishing a daily blog at the Archdiocese of Washington website, he has written in pastoral journals, conducted numerous retreats for priests and lay faithful, and has also conducted weekly Bible studies in the U.S. Congress and the White House. He was named a Monsignor in 2005.